Method and device for configuring a multimedia message for presentation

ABSTRACT

A method and device for configuring a multimedia message for presentation. A multimedia message is formatted for presentation. First a formatted choice menu is presented for various multimedia categories in parallel. Upon one or more user selections in series, to each selection a monomedium item space is offered for enabling to enter an item for to the associated monomedium into that space. After termination of all selections, the message is formatted for transfer. In particular, the choice menu has various selector spots, each associated to a respective monomedium. After entering a particular user item into the associated space, a symbolizer of that item is displayed at a predetermined position next to any remaining selector spot in the menu.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a method for configuring a multimedia messagefor presentation to a non-local destination, said method comprising thesteps of:

presenting a formatted choice menu for various multimedia categories inparallel,

upon one or more user selections in series, offering to each such userselection a monomedium item space for enabling the user to enter an itempertaining to the associated monomedium into said space,

and after termination of all selections formatting the message fortransfer. The technology of composing of multimedia messages has beenunder discussion for some time. Various monomedia distinguish from eachother in that either the transfer channels, or the rendering channels,or both, are distinguished in from each other. The distinction may beaudio versus video or mixed. The distinction may reside in widelydifferent bitrates. The embodiment hereinafter considers four suchdistinct monomedia:

text in the form of characters, that each have an individual characteridentity, and collectively may be formed according to some letter typeor font; here the rendering is visual, and the code is ASCII or the like

human or similar speech, or other sound, that is represented as codedsound; the rendering is audio, and the representation may be various,varying from LPC (linear predictive code) to CD-quality

photographs or other images represented by a coded picture; variouscompaction standards have been defined

movie represented by a sequence of coded pictures, that may or may notbe accompanied by sound; this sound may be coded in another manner thanthe earlier one.

In principle, the number of the above channels may be chosen greater orsmaller, either on the system or on the message level. Smaller, in thatone or more of the above may be considered irrelevant or too expensive.Greater, in that additional channels may be considered. A furtherfeasible channel is for example formed by handwriting or by a hand-drawnFigure, that is represented by a string of vectors. In an interactivecontext, various other categories could be thought of.

Now, the inventors have recognized that the inexperienced user should beguided by a right amount of cues and indications for making thecomposing of a message a transparent art: the invention is not directedto professional data processing technologists. In particular, such usershould readily grasp how far the composing of a particular multimediamessage has proceeded without necessitating the replay of the fullcomposition. Note that the latter may offer a problem, when the messagecontains static, as well as dynamic items: such replay could requireseveral minutes.

SUMMARY TO THE INVENTION

Therefore, amongst other things it is an object of the present inventionto visually indicate to a user person which items have been insertedinto the message already, and also to some extent, the character ornature of such items. Now according to one of its aspects, the inventionis characterized in that by providing in said formatted choice menuvarious selector spots, each associated to a respective monomedium, andafter said entering of a particular user item into the associated space,displaying a symbolizer of that item at a predetermined position next toany remaining selector spot in the menu. Through the visualpresentation, the user has a fuller idea of the "to-do" versus "done"character of the various parts of a message to be composed, andmoreover, will even during the configuring, be inspired to proceed. Forexample, the showing of a snapshot photograph at a former selector spotor "hotspot", may easily bring about new associations for introducinginto a textual message. The symbolizers may relate to the content of theassociated item in the way of an excerpt, but this is not alwaysfeasible or optimum. Their positions may correspond to the position ofthe hotspot used for entering to the associated monomedium selection,but they may alternatively be, for example, positioned in a rowaccording to seniority.

Advantageously said formatting as being selectably in any of a pluralityof predetermined styles that are defmed in the form of a respectivetemplate. This further supports the non-professional user in easilyfinding an appropriate message format. Alternatively, the user may beoffered a choice for freely composing the succession of the variousitems in the message and their presentations to the receiver.

The invention also relates to a device for practising the method.Further advantageous aspects of the invention are recited in dependentclaims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

These and further aspects and advantages of the invention will bediscussed more in detail hereinafter with reference to the disclosure ofthe preferred embodiments, and particularly with reference to theappended Figures that show:

FIG. 1, a block diagram of a device according to the invention;

FIG. 2, a navigation diagram;

FIGS. 3A-3F, various frames that are displayed during the use of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a device according to the invention. Thesetup centers around the common household television set 20 that hasbeen provided with onboard or separate video recorder 22. The technologyof both television and recorder may be present-day, as well as advanced.In one embodiment, the television set comprises enough on-board storageto hold the program necessary to practice the invention. In anotherembodiment, the program may sit on a separate server device 21. Oneenvisaged realisation is to interconnect the server via Internet 23;Internet may then also be used for transmitting the letter itself.Control is by remote control device 28 that has two-dimensionalcursoring control 30 provided with central OK button. Further controlsare 32 for home, 34 for goto TV, and 36 for goto message environment. Byitself, remote control technology is standard. Wireless keyboard 24allows for text input; this need not attain full querty functionality.Alternatively, the keyboard may be located on-screen. The home selectionhas been indicated in FIG. 2 by capital H.

FIG. 2 is a navigation diagram. The overall facility starts from mainscreen 48. This offers selecting among inbox, outbox and create.Selecting is always by hotspots such as will be shown with reference toFIGS. 3A-3F hereinafter. Actuating Create transfers to create screen 50.This offers selecting among text, audio, picture, video. Selectingtransfers to any of screens 52, 54, 56, 58 that pertain to the fourselections, respectively. The content items can sourced by anappropriate storage mechanism, such as the VCR that may accommodatestills and sound, by a live source, such as camera or microphone notshown, scanner 26 for pictures or keyboard 24 for text. Screen 52 allowsselecting add to letter and delete. Screen 54 additionally to screen 52allows selecting record, stop and play. Screen 56 additionally allowsselecting rotate, darken, and lighten. Screen 58 additionally allowsselecting record, stop and play. Navigation along screens 52-58 mayproceed as found necessary. After all necessary items have been enteredinto the message data structure, compose screen 60 may be selectedthrough add to letter. In particular, screen 60 shows locations that maybut not need to correspond to the hotspot configuration of screen 50,and which now also feature the items entered into the message structurethrough an associated symbolizer of the user item in question. Forexample, if a picture, a cutout of the picture is shown. If text, theinitial few lines of the text in question are shown, or just a fractionthereof, such as the letterhead. If a movie, a frame thereof is shown.If sound, an audio wave pattern is shown. This means that the user knowswhere items have already been entered already, and which possibilitieshave yet been left unused. After adding an item to the letter, theassociated symbolizer is directly displayed in screen 60. This meansthat the screen as shown is only attained after entering all fourcategories. The transmitting of a message is possible after an arbitrarynumber of user items has been entered. In a simple version, eachcategory may be entered only once. In a more elaborate version, the usermay reselect a particular monomedium more than once. This could meaneither that the displayed excerpt still retains its hotspot character,or that a special repeat hotspot would be present.

Screen 60 allows selecting between a plurality of styles, each stylebeing defined in the form of a respective template. Appropriate stylemay be formal for a business letter, classic for a standard letter,congratulatory, hilarious or other. The inventors have considered thefollowing embodiments:

a. Classic template: first text and picture are displayed side-by-side;next the video is played; finally the sound is played while againdisplaying the picture.

b. Congratulatory template: first the sound is played together with thepicture, next the text is displayed, finally, the video is played

c. So-called wild template: first the picture is displayed together withdynamic text of which various paragraphs are shown one after the other;next, the video is displayed; finally, the sound is played while againdisplaying the picture.

For certain styles, the system may prompt the user to completeparticular monomedia items of the message; this has not been shown forbrevity. In an elementary version, the video may be omitted as requiringtoo much bandwidth.

The general nature of the format may be preprogrammed in the system, forexample, in that for a congratulatory message various standard melodiescan be selected, such as Happy Birthday, Wedding March, and so on. Also,various standard pictures or vignettes can be offered by the system tothe user, either as basic features, or through loading of some auxiliarymedium such as a floppy disk, into the recorder. Selecting the styletransfers to screen 62. This allows selecting play, stop, andaddressing, as well as to return to screen 60 for selecting anotherstyle. If the user wants to send it, screen 64 allows selecting in anaddress directory or typing of an appropriate address. After addressing,screen 66 allows effectively sending the message to addressee. Aftersending, screen 68 allows saving or not saving the message. In bothcases, the system reverts to main screen 48. Sending the same message toa series of addresses is done by returning to screen 64. After sending,the message is saved in the outbox.

The outbox is represented by screen 44. This allows selecting the sentmessages in a list. If selected, the message may be viewed or playedthrough selecting from screen 46. The subject of a particular message isentered at the same time as the addressing in box 64. Screen 46 allowsselecting to play, or to stop the message. Similarly, screen 42 allowsdisplaying the outbox list, whilst screen 40 allows selecting andplaying of any received messages. For brevity, the actual receiving ofmessages sent by other persons, the clearing of the mailboxes, andvarious other utilities have not been discussed, inasmuch as theinvention centers on the actual configuring of the messages.

FIGS. 3A-3F depict various frames displayed during the use of theinvention. FIG. 3A is the CREATE screen. In the large field, the fourselector spots relate to the text item, the sound item, the pictureitem, and the video item, respectively, as indicated by associated fixedicon-like elements; as shown by highlighting, first the text should bechosen. However, in another embodiment the sequence of entering the fourmonomedia items is arbitrary. The top right field has two icons thatrepresent the classic and wild style, respectively, but which are nothighlighted. Directly below is a further nonhighlighted, and therefore,passive element. The other two fields are empty.

FIG. 3B allows to compose the text, which is displayed in the big field.The text may be restricted so as to fit in this field, or alternativelybe allowed to overflow this field. The top right field is empty. Thelower field has icons for add-to-letter and for delete. The lower rightfield allows to go back to create.

FIG. 3C allows to enter sound. The big field shows an amplitudecharacteristic of the sound while played. The right hand field hasrecord, stop, and play icons. The lower two fields have the same iconsas the preceding Figure.

FIG. 3D allows to enter a picture. The big field has a picture forinclusion in the message. The right hand field has icons for rotate,darken, and lighten. The lower two fields have the same icons as thepreceding Figure. FIG. 3E allows to enter video. This Figure has thesame set of icons as FIG. 3C. As this screen is generally the last tooccur in message composing, it has at the bottom of its big field anicon that symbolizes the actual transmitting of the message. Going backto Screen 50 generally means cancel. Going to screen 60 generally meansadding one more multimedia item, of which the associated excerpt then isdisplayed in lieu of the selector spot.

We claim:
 1. A method for configuring a multimedia message forpresentation to a non-local destination, said method comprising thesteps of:presenting a formatted choice menu for various multimediacategories in parallel, upon one or more user selections in series,offering, in response to each such user selection, a monomedium itemspace for enabling the user to enter an item pertaining to theassociated monomedium into said space, and after termination of allselections formatting the message for transfer; characterized byproviding in said formatted choice menu various selector spots, eachassociated to a respective monomedium, and after said entering of aparticular user item into the associated space, displaying a symbolizerof that item at a predetermined position next to a position of arelevant selector spot in the menu.
 2. A method as claimed in claim 1,wherein said predetermined position corresponds to the earlier positionof the associated selector spot.
 3. A method as claimed in claim 1,wherein said symbolizer is an excerpt from the associated user item asentered.
 4. A method as claimed in claim 1, furthermore offering to auser said formatting as being selectably in any of a plurality ofpredetermined styles that are defined in the form of a respectivetemplate.
 5. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the number ofmonomedia item spaces is at least equal to four.
 6. A device forconfiguring a multimedia message for presentation to a non-localdestination, said device comprising:video display means for presenting aformatted choice menu for various multimedia categories in parallel;detection means for detecting one or more user selections in series, andupon each respective selection controlling one or more display screensfor offering to the user an item space for therein entering a user itempertaining to an associated monomedium; and formatting means for aftertermination of all selections formatting the message for transfer;characterized in that said video display means is arranged for providingin said formatted choice menu various selector spots each associated toa respective monomedium and, after said entering of a particular useritem into the associated space, displaying a symbolizer of that item ata predetermined position next to a position of a relevant selector spotin the menu.
 7. The device of claim 6, wherein said predeterminedposition corresponds to the earlier position of the associated selectorspot.
 8. The device of claim 6, wherein said symbolizer is an excerptfrom the associated user item as entered.
 9. The device of claim 6furthermore offering to a user said formatting as being selectably inany of a plurality of predetermined styles that are defined in the formof a respective template.
 10. The device of claim 6, wherein the numberof types of message component item spaces is at least equal to four.